What level sub-d?
davidjones8418
Posts: 166
I understand sub-d, more or less, but how do I know what subd level to use?
I read a while back that you should use the subd level the morph was designed for. But most daz products have little or no documentation. Is there a rule of thumb for this?
Is sub-d 5 wasted effort on a lot of these figures? Or do you need to go that high to get the best results?
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Use the minimum that looks good in your render, don't turn it up unless you have a very good reason for it. yes, subdividing 5 times is not useful at all, it doesn't magically add detail where there is none to begin with. All subdividing will do is make the mesh smoother, and past a certain point it's impossible to appreciate a difference. By default the figures are set to show sudvivision level 1 (i.e., each quad is cut into 4 sub quads) in the viewport, and subd 1 at render; the next step up, subd 2, cuts each quad into *16*. next subd 3, **64**. past this point the polygons are generally smaller than a single pixel at render time and there is no benefit to subdividing more.
NB: there's a huge difference between subdividing a finished model, as D|S does, and simply having a higher polygon density in the base model, especially when you're dealing with dynamic cloth; the mesh can only deform where there are actual base polygons, subdividing and smoothing can't make it bend more, they just make it look smoother. Here's an example of the same model with low and high base polygon count in the same pose.
That is really up to you and what your machine can handle. Adding levels of sub-d really tax your system resources
Thank you all. That is helpful.
I couldn't see a difference myself on the figure I was using, but I have a bunch of figures and this saves me not being sure whether it was just this one, or testing them individually.
I'll aim for Subd 3 for figures, then, unless specifically stated otherwise.
Something to be aware of is that smoothing and collision are calculated with regard to the base mesh. That's why we sometimes see pokethrough in our renders that's doesn't show up in previews. It's often a good idea to do a quick render just to check for pokethrough, rather than set up a scene, hit render and walk away. Most pokethrough can be easily hidden in postwork, but it can get tricky in some cases.
Interesting. Was aware of pokethrough, but didn't know the reason.
Agree re rest renders. It is one of the items on my 30 point render checklist. Got fed up rendering and afterwards banging my head on the table because I had forgotten something.
no no, you misunderstood me! Aim for subd ZERO (no subdivision at all) and only turn it up when you need it to make the final render to look better. The characters are set to Subd 1 and that's fine for practically everything you're ever going to render, even in extreme closeups you might want to only turn it up to 2. Always start low and turn it up only when really necessary!
I generally do have subd at 1 while building a scene. No point slowing that down, though I admit I hadn't considered 0, which I guess is faster still.
I'll test the lower subd levels out in renders. So thanks for the tip. Easy to test something that makes a render faster!
Just keep in mind, subdivision is not a magical thing that will always make your renders look better or anything, it should be used sparingly and only where it makes sense. Any time you can see polygon corners where you don't want them e.g.
Note that subd 0 is not the same as no subD. If you don't want to tax your machine while setting thing up, you have to actually use base resolution.
Stumbled upon this older thread while doing some research on subd, and had a curious question about this one comment.
Recently I've been using a lot more clothing morphs since I've discovered them, if the clothes come with any. If not I add some to them with Fit Control. Not often but sometimes the clothes don't end up looking so good, which is understandable if you're squishing them and moving them in ways they weren't meant to be..
So then with subd, provided I have a small scene that isn't taxing my system or anything, would increasing the subd level make morphed clothing items look better or more natural? More like the cloth is bending or being folded due to the increased number of polys so a more bendable surface area? Not that it would actually bend more than it already is, but between the smoothing and extra subd it would only appear to be smoother... if I understand correctly?
edits to clarify question :)
Nope... as Squishy pointed it out, if you increase the value of SubDivision Level, it'll just make the figure / object smoother in Viewport, and higher value will consume more RAM/VRAM and make the manipulation in Viewport more laggy.
Besides, the more meaningful setting is the value of Render SubD Level... which may bring you better render result with smoother mesh and shadow, etc. So just reasonably set the value depending on your cases and system resources. For garments with High Resolution, Render SubD Level - 1 ~ 2 will be good enough in most of the cases.
Gotcha, thanks! :)